The Rosary...

The rosary....It is difficult to explain how significant the rosary is in my life.

There was a time in my life when I had a great deal of trouble sleeping.  I clung to the rosary.  I said many, many rosaries those nights.  Eventually I started falling asleep after having said several.

Now, I just have to have a rosary in my hand when I fall asleep.  It's as though I have to have that connection with the Blessed Mother.  I don't feel secure without it.  Some nights I barely finish the
Apostles Creed before I fall asleep.

When I was a little girl the sisters at our parish Catholic school told us that if you fell asleep saying the rosary your guardian angel would finish it.  Well, why not start one at least then?

Now, I sleep pretty well.  But I nearly always start a rosary.  If there's something weighing on my heart I ask the Lord to help me finish it, if that is what he would like.  And, if I fall asleep, could he please receive the completed rosary from my guardian angel for the intention with which I started it.

If I find myself wide awake in the middle of the night I start a rosary for the first person who comes to mind.  Sometimes, this appears to be a randomly selected person.  No matter.  I say the rosary for that person anyway, because they may indeed need it.  Occasionally I have found out later that that person was really in need of prayer.

The above photo is the corner of the headboard on my bed.  Lest you think that the number of rosaries hanging there is some indication of my devotion, let me confess the reason for their being there.

I do always sleep with a rosary, usually a plastic one because they do not tangle.  One by one, these rosaries have slipped off the top of the bed after I've fallen asleep and have accumulated on the floor behind the headboard.  I finally pulled the bed out and, with the help of my daughter, retrieved them all out.  This photo shows the accumulated supply.  :-)

I guess I won't have to look for a rosary for a long time now.  Thanks be to God.